Mission and Vision

The mission of MINE, ME, & US Montessori School is to provide a nurturing, educational, authentic Montessori environment for children, wherein they are encouraged and supported to do the important lifework of becoming a fully developed, whole person who is mindful of individual, environmental, and community responsibilities.

From MINE, Montessori Infant Nido Environment, to ME, Montessori Elementary, to US, the forthcoming Upper School, MINE, ME, & US Montessori School offers authentic Montessori education with a focus on the natural world and the wonders of food for children ages 6 weeks through 9 years… and growing.

The “Nido” from the Italian word for “nest”, is how Maria Montessori described the infant environment. At MINE, ME, & US Montessori School, we strive to create classrooms that are home-like with lovely, natural wooden and cloth materials, child-sized wooden furniture, clean surfaces, organic cotton sheets and blankets, soft soothing music, and magnificent plants in order for children to feel safe, cared for, loved and challenged.

Each classroom is spacious to encourage freedom of movement. Beautiful Montessori materials developed to entice the sense of wonder innate in children while meeting their developmental needs in the areas of movement, language, motor skills, and independence fill each classroom. Teachers at MINE, ME, & US Montessori School are certified with Montessori credentials. Each teacher carefully observes the children and matches the classroom materials to encourage their developmental progress based on Montessori training and the latest child development research. As did Maria Montessori, MINE, ME, & US Montessori School teachers “follow the child”.

Maria Montessori said “the land is where our roots are. The children must be taught to feel and live in harmony with the Earth”. In the same spirit, the importance of environmental consciousness and responsibility is woven into the children’s seed-to-table experience of MINE, ME, & US Montessori School. The children have daily opportunities to participate in gardening, harvesting and preparing the local organic and vegetarian meals and snacks that they enjoy at school. Children benefit from a positive relationship with nature and a loving relationship not only with each other but other living creatures. Isla, the school dog attends MINE, ME, & US Montessori School each day for the children to enjoy and love.

As they say, it takes a village to raise a child. Parents are a vital part of the MINE, ME, & US Montessori School community. MINE, ME, & US Montessori School provides various ways in which the child’s home and school environments come together. Parents play an important supportive role to the development and independence of their children. Mothers are welcome anytime during the day to breastfeed their child . MINE, ME, & US Montessori School is developing Montessori prenatal classes and parenting classes, various nutrition and cooking classes for children and families, parent support groups, parent-child nights and other family opportunities. MINE, ME, & US Montessori School teachers give three conferences each year and are available to parents during other needed times. Parents are welcomed to observe and participate in their children’s education at MINE, ME, & US Montessori School.

It is important for the development of children’s self-esteem to know their place in a community, to understand what they can offer their community, and to engage in responsibility to others. To this end children’s work at MINE, ME, & US Montessori School promotes meditation, multicultural respect, human rights and conflict resolution as ways to integrate peace within their lives, families, classroom and broader communities.

“We love the MINE program. We love that our child is encouraged to persist through challenges in order to gain new skills each day. We love that she is encouraged to explore a very diverse culinary palette, which we have not found in any other childcare center in the area. We love that our child is encouraged to be mindful of her peers, her environment, and her whole self. We love that our child comes home covered in dirt or mud because she spent so much time outside exploring the forest and her natural surroundings. We love that she needs to be prepared to go outside, regardless of the weather, and that a good portion of her day is spent outside. Most of all, we love that our child doesn’t want to leave at the end of the day because she is having so much fun. She is always happy, smiling, playing, and laughing and this, in and of itself, is worth everything to us.”